Doug Liman to Direct 'TheThree Musketeers' in 3D for Warner Bros.?

King Arthur isn't the only sword-and-swashbuckle story that's competing to be first to the big screen. The Three Musketeers are in vogue again too. Paul W.S. Anderson has a 3D "modernized-but-not-really" version in the works at Summit, and Sherlock Holmes' producer Lionel Wigram aims to make an equally sexy, funky version for Warner Bros. Wigram's version is currently lagging behind in the race, but THR's Heat Vision says they may have finally found a director in Doug Liman.

If you put me at rapier's point and forced me to choose between Anderson and Liman, I'd pick Liman. If you want a sexy revamp of the Musketeers, you'd definitely pick the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and not the one of Death Race 2000. Summit and Anderson may be at the casting stage of their version, but right now Warner Bros. has the talent advantage, particularly with a script by Peter Straughan, whose The Men Who Stare At Goats proves he has a knack for political absurdity. Warner Bros' version could be really, really cool. All the ingredients are there, and Sherlock Holmes proved Wigram knows how to exploit classic literature for a new age.

Of course, such promise has to be ruined by that very new age. Warner Bros. isn't content to let Anderson have all the technological flash, and reportedly their Three Musketeers will be in 3D too. Alexandra Dumas' book may have been a classic for nearly 200 years with only paper and words at its command, but that kind of flat entertainment is so passe.